The British Psychological Society's administrative archives contain minutes, correspondence, reports, and working papers covering a full range of activities of the Society and its member networks since its foundation.

In addition the History of Psychology Centre holds numerous working papers from various eminent psychologists and psychological organisations, including:

The BPS has maintained a library since 1906, which has been held at Senate House, University of London since 1947. The BPS library was merged with Senate House Library’s own extensive psychology holdings in 2014 to create one of the most extensive psychology collections in Europe.

As well as being the official repository for the Society’s own publications – journals, newsletters, reports, etc. – the collection contains extensive and historical holdings of psychology journals and books, including rare and classic 19th and 20th century texts.

Access

Eligible Society members can obtain a reference card free of charge, which provides access not only to the Society's own extensive collections but also onsite access to all Senate House Library’s print collections and digital resources.

The audio archive is named after John C. Kenna, the Society’s first Honorary Archivist, in recognition of his pioneering work in gathering and collecting early audio recordings of eminent figures in the history of psychology.

Oral History Project

Since 2005 HoPC has been running an Oral History Project to build on this early work of John Kenna and to ensure we collect and preserve the oral history of the current generation of British psychologists.

This collection is named after Grace Rawlings, a former President of the BPS.

Founded in 1990, the archive comprises photographs, slides, and films of individuals, groups, and events relating to psychology and to the Society.

Access

Images held in the visual archive may be viewed for private research and study purposes, but please note that current copyright law may prevent us from making copies of some images in the archive even for bona fide researchers. See the Enquiries and Document Supply tab for more information.

The core of the test collection is the University of Sussex Psychological Test Collection, which the History of Psychology Centre took on a 15-year loan in December 2005, but which has since been made permanent.

There is no public or researcher access to the tests at the present time.

In addition our Applied Psychology Unit (Cambridge) Pamphlet Collection is held at the British Library in London.

One of our main aims is to develop a comprehensive online history of the British Psychological Society, covering its professional, academic and institutional evolution since its formation in 1901.

If you are interested in learning more about the Society's origins and development, a good starting point would be to to consult the following article(s):

In 1913 the first applied psychologist took up his post with the London County Council. His job was to assess children for special educational programmes and develop tools to identify children who may need alternative kinds of education. With this post, the profession of educational psychology was born. The numbers of educational psychologists have steadily grown over the subsequent hundred years and the practices, roles and functions that they adopt have similarly developed.

This book outlines the development of the profession in the United Kingdom during its first century of existence. It describes a number of different themes that have emerged over time and documents key points in the profession’s development.

As a record of the development of the profession and as an aid to understanding current issues through the experience of the past, this short history will be highly relevant to psychologists working in health care, from trainees through to experienced clinicians, as well as to other healthcare professionals. As a scholarly history it will appeal not only to historians but also to anyone with a general interest in social and political developments in mental health provision.

Please note that although we offer a limited enquiry service in response to email, post, or phone, or in person to visitors by prior arrangement, we cannot undertake research on your behalf.

Contacts

For Information on Archives Collections, the History of the Society, Donations, Oral History and access to the Audio Visual Collections as well as other material held at the BPS London Office, please contact:

For information on access to materials held at the Wellcome Library please contact:

Please note that although registration for a library card is free and gives access to the main library collections; there are some additional requirements for access to archives and manuscripts. First-time visitors are advised to contact Wellcome Library in advance.

For all other enquiries, including Events and Publications, please contact:

Copies and Permission to Use Material from BPS Collections

a) Private study, teaching or research purposes

We can supply images from the visual archive, sound recordings, and photocopies or pdfs of papers and other material (subject to copyright restrictions and at our discretion) for personal non-commercial use free of charge to BPS members. For non-members, there may be a charge (to be agreed in advance) to cover administrative costs and reprographics and postage charges.

For visiting researchers, photocopying and scanning (subject to copyright restrictions and at our discretion) will generally be done free of charge. There is no self-service copying available

Material held by our partner the Wellcome Library and Senate House are subject to their own arrangements for copying and supply, except for material that we have specified on our [link] catalogue to have particular conditions attached to it.

b) Commercial purposes

We will negotiate a fee with any person or organisation wishing to use images or other material (subject to copyright restrictions and at our discretion) for commercial purposes. Commercial purposes includes, but is not limited to, the reproduction of material within a publication that is sold or distributed by a commercial organisation, and the inclusion of material in course packs.

c) Copies and Permission to Use Articles published on the BPS Website

If you wish to republish or distribute an article downloaded from this website, or if you would like any other kind of licence, please email [email protected] with your request.

Donations and Bequests

We are always looking to acquire new material and to fill in gaps in the existing collections.